So what would happen if....

[dianeschlicht]

I was reading here today and thinking about that long standing promise of DVC to give us on-line booking or at least being able to check available accommodations on-line.

It occured to me how different that would make the way we do things! No more calling 30 seconds before 9 AM on Monday morning to get the first of your day by day ressies... No waiting and wondering if your waitlist will come through and if there is a chance for it... Those who rent out points would be able to check available accommodations BEFORE they started to work with a renter... MS might actually have less work and thus be less stressed and more civil to EVERYONE.

So what else would change?

 

[greenban]

Professional Renters would book all the prime weeks in advance.

Or worse, book a GV every Wednesday (or whatever the most popular night is) to insure 'their' availability.

While I love the concept of online booking, I think the average member will be hurt, and big point owners (know of any?) would disproportionally benefit.

Just my 2 cents!

-Tony

 

[crisi]

I was reading here today and thinking about that long standing promise of DVC to give us on-line booking or at least being able to check available accommodations on-line.

It occured to me how different that would make the way we do things! No more calling 30 seconds before 9 AM on Monday morning to get the first of your day by day ressies... No waiting and wondering if your waitlist will come through and if there is a chance for it... Those who rent out points would be able to check available accommodations BEFORE they started to work with a renter... MS might actually have less work and thus be less stressed and more civil to EVERYONE.

So what else would change?

I don't know that any of that would change - go read a thread about Palo reservations on the cruise. Used to be that you got on the ship and partcipated in the ressie rush. Then they made it possible to book on the Web. Now, when your reservation time opens (90 days before your cruise if you cruised before) people log on at 3:00 am when the system opens to get what they want. I'd rather make a phone call at 9:00 am than login at 3:00 am.

People complain because availabilty for excursions was there in the morning and gone in the afternoon.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Professional Renters would book all the prime weeks in advance.

Or worse, book a GV every Wednesday (or whatever the most popular night is) to insure 'their' availability.

While I love the concept of online booking, I think the average member will be hurt, and big point owners (know of any?) would disproportionally benefit.

Just my 2 cents!

-Tony

UGH! Now that's exactly the type of response I was looking for! That's a real reason for NOT doing online booking! I am NOT one of those big point owners, so I see your point! OF course, there would still be the booking windows, but maybe online booking and checking available units are two different animals!

 

[greenban]

UGH! Now that's exactly the type of response I was looking for! That's a real reason for NOT doing online booking! I am NOT one of those big point owners, so I see your point! OF course, there would still be the booking windows, but maybe online booking and checking available units are two different animals!

Diane:

Just to make sure it is clear, I didn't mean to imply you are a Big Point Owner. It was me being me, we all know I am a BIG big point owner, and that I rent alot. Since it's the web, I don't want my attempt at humor to insult or upset you!

-Tony

 

[Chuck S]

Unfortunately, Tony, there may be some truth to your theory, though...especially during prime rental weeks.

 

[Granny]

Tony, I think you bring up a very valid point and concern. Although I'm not sure what would keep those same people from calling up and doing the same thing on the telephone?

Caskbill has done a great job explaining how incredibly difficult it would be to make actual reservations on-line. Here's a link to that comment: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=13671540&postcount=37

Frankly, I have a lot more confidence when talking to a human, even with human error in the equation.

I was also wondering if the on-line reservations would be available 24/7. So we would have to log on before midnight EST and wait for the next day to "open up" for business? And day by day reservations would have to be done that way every night? Can you see that as part of the DVC Guide spiel?

Frankly, I am one who does not see the overall benefit of on-line reservations. I think the ability to see a snapshot of what is available based on the previous day's activity would be nice, but the actual reservations would be a challenge for members, to say the least.

 

[Caskbill]

What I think would be a nice addition, is not on-line reservations, but just checking availability, with a condition.

The on-line availability would only be active when MS is closed. That way it's not competing with the 'live' activities of the 100 or so MS reps who are making reservations.

Consider it to be a snapshot at the end of the day of what's still available. Members could log on after hours or weekends and see if what they want is there.

If they see there's only one or two units left for what they want, they know they'd better call first thing in the morning that MS opens. If availability is wide open, then they know there's no rush to call.

By having it only after hours, and not 24/7, it doesn't compete with the CM's making 100's of reservations, and thus doesn't demand more load on the server. After hours when MS no longer needs access, the servers could serve the on-line inquiries.

 

[brasey]

I agree with Caskbill as you can sit wondering all night long or all weekend praying the days you want are open, start dialing at 8:59:30 according to the atomic clock in Colorado only to find out you had no shot anyway. At least his way you can have a snapshot of what is open and figure out what resort you can get with what type of accomodation without keeping MS searching for you and holding up the phone system.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Would members in England have a five hour advantage over East Coast Members? Would East Coast member have a three hour advantage over West Coast members? Would Arizona residents have to take the Daylight Savings Time penalty?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Diane:

Just to make sure it is clear, I didn't mean to imply you are a Big Point Owner. It was me being me, we all know I am a BIG big point owner, and that I rent alot. Since it's the web, I don't want my attempt at humor to insult or upset you!

-Tony

LOL, no insult or upset here!

 

[Granny]

Would members in England have a five hour advantage over East Coast Members? Would East Coast member have a three hour advantage over West Coast members? Would Arizona residents have to take the Daylight Savings Time penalty?

The "clock" is in Florida, same as MS. So I'm sure that it wouldn't be when "your" day starts, but when "Disney's" day does.

 

[tmt martins]

I would also like to see just the Availibility . Then you could wait to call or do the E-mail thats currently offered.

It would also be nice for a last minute or quick trips or to see haw things are trending when you get to the 7 month mark for a switch in resorts.

Either way I'm fine with it I just think there's less margin for error in the DVC bookings then in the CRO ..

 

[jarestel]

I'll chime in with a few observations regarding on line booking:

1 - Every other non-DVC hotel I make reservations at has on-line booking for those who wish to take advantage of it as well as dial up for those who don't.

2 - Having had direct deposit for my paychecks for the last 20 years or so and on-line banking for the last 10, I'm pretty comfortable with on-line transactions. If I trust it with my money, I would certainly have no qualms about making on-line hotel reservations. I do believe, incidentally, we've heard here from time to time about MS screwing up a reservation for a member, so if one is looking for fail-safe systems, dial up is not the beat-all and end-all. Once your reservation is in the computer, it's very unlikely that it will simply disappear.

3 - I don't really care much anymore if DVC offers on-line booking or not, since we don't use our DVC as much as we used to. But I don't think on-line booking would be any more of a negative to DVC than it was for airlines, hotels, or any other industry that allows consumers to directly book.

Of course, as always, time will tell.

 

[Caskbill]

I'll chime in with a few observations regarding on line booking:

1 - Every other non-DVC hotel I make reservations at has on-line booking for those who wish to take advantage of it as well as dial up for those who don't.

2 - Having had direct deposit for my paychecks for the last 20 years or so and on-line banking for the last 10, I'm pretty comfortable with on-line transactions. If I trust it with my money, I would certainly have no qualms about making on-line hotel reservations. I do believe, incidentally, we've heard here from time to time about MS screwing up a reservation for a member, so if one is looking for fail-safe systems, dial up is not the beat-all and end-all. Once your reservation is in the computer, it's very unlikely that it will simply disappear.

3 - I don't really care much anymore if DVC offers on-line booking or not, since we don't use our DVC as much as we used to. But I don't think on-line booking would be any more of a negative to DVC than it was for airlines, hotels, or any other industry that allows consumers to directly book.

Of course, as always, time will tell.

It's not a matter of whether consumers could use on-line booking, but the complexity of developing a system for DVC, and would it be worth the costs.

Creating a system for booking on-line hotels, airlines, or accessing your bank account is very simple compared to what would be necessary for DVC to develop a system for members to make reservations.

For a hotel, you only need your dates and a credit card, and maybe a room category. Airline bookings are similar.

DVC is considerably complex, and the cost to develop a system probably outweighs the cost savings it would return based on the percentage of members that might actually use it.

For the complexities involved see This Post

And that example only details the requirements of the system for someone who only has one Master Contract and membership number. Many members have purchased resale contracts over the years and have two or more membership numbers, and thus multiple contracts that must be managed totally separately.

 

[crisi]

The "clock" is in Florida, same as MS. So I'm sure that it wouldn't be when "your" day starts, but when "Disney's" day does.

DCLs "systems day" starts at 3am. Once you move it to computer, you can start the day whenever you finish maintenance for the night (assuming you run maintenance).

I agree with Caskbill - It is a really complex system....web apps aren't optimized for real time inventory (too many people walk away from their computers). And while airlines and hotels have a profit motive behind the need, DVC really doesn't. It may eventually come - but I don't know that I'm looking forward to it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I admit that I always answer "by telephone" when I do the survey asking how I want to make DVC reservations in the future.

Bobbi

 

[jarestel]

DVC is considerably complex, and the cost to develop a system probably outweighs the cost savings it would return based on the percentage of members that might actually use it.

Well, you may be right, Caskbill. I wonder if DVC would comment on whether this function is in their future plans or not if asked.

In the past some of the techie swamis on these boards have proclaimed that even coming up with a system to guarantee smoking preference would be too difficult for DVC to implement. So on-line reservations are probably only going to be available for those who were wise enough to purchase SSR for those extra 12 years.

 

[dianeschlicht]

What I think would be a nice addition, is not on-line reservations, but just checking availability, with a condition.

The on-line availability would only be active when MS is closed. That way it's not competing with the 'live' activities of the 100 or so MS reps who are making reservations.

Consider it to be a snapshot at the end of the day of what's still available. Members could log on after hours or weekends and see if what they want is there.

If they see there's only one or two units left for what they want, they know they'd better call first thing in the morning that MS opens. If availability is wide open, then they know there's no rush to call.

By having it only after hours, and not 24/7, it doesn't compete with the CM's making 100's of reservations, and thus doesn't demand more load on the server. After hours when MS no longer needs access, the servers could serve the on-line inquiries.

Now THAT'S an idea that has a LOT of merit! I would think that would be simpler to do as well.

 

[acpalmer]

It's not a matter of whether consumers could use on-line booking, but the complexity of developing a system for DVC, and would it be worth the costs.

Creating a system for booking on-line hotels, airlines, or accessing your bank account is very simple compared to what would be necessary for DVC to develop a system for members to make reservations.

For a hotel, you only need your dates and a credit card, and maybe a room category. Airline bookings are similar.

DVC is considerably complex, and the cost to develop a system probably outweighs the cost savings it would return based on the percentage of members that might actually use it.

For the complexities involved see This Post

And that example only details the requirements of the system for someone who only has one Master Contract and membership number. Many members have purchased resale contracts over the years and have two or more membership numbers, and thus multiple contracts that must be managed totally separately.

I'd love to read the "this post" metioned just for educational sake, but the link is coming up as "404 not found"--can someone post a link to the actual post for me?

Editing to ask if this link would have gone to the same post linked by Granny in his earlier post?